In the most sensational, if not most significant, scoop of recent memory, the Times has done it again by finding out who, exactly, Eliot Spitzer met in the Mayflower Hotal last month.  He called her “Kristin,” but her mom called her Ashley Youmans, and she called herself Ashley Alexandra Dupré.  The Times spoke to her on the phone.  She lives in Manhattan.

“I just don’t want to be thought of as a monster,” the woman said as she told the tiniest tidbits of her story.

What she’d rather be thought of, I think, is a singer, based on her MySpace page, which at 6am today had 2,387,550 profile views.  At 6:05am, it already had 3,108,974 views.  If she wants to be a singer, then maybe this is the break she was praying for.  It’s the Age of Celebrity, full tilt.

This, just now from The New York Times: “Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation.” His press conference is probably happening right now.

The wiretap recording, made during an investigation of a prostitution ring called Emperors Club VIP, captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a room. The person briefed on the case identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9 […] The affidavit says that Client 9 met with the woman in hotel room 871 but does not identify the hotel. Mr. Spitzer stayed at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on Feb. 13, according to a source who was told of his travel arrangements.

And, in what may be my only brush with political scandal, I was at the Mayflower Hotel that night, and I ate breakfast the next morning in the hotel restaurant, about ten feet away from Governor Spitzer. I had granola at the buffet, and I can confirm that he, instead, ordered off the menu. Nuts.

Update: Fox News reports that Spitzer will resign following his indictment.

Update: Politico’s Ben Smith on the man who would replace Spitzer.

Update: The Times says he will not resign.